VIENNA, Sept 6 (AFP) - The Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe agreed Thursday [6 September] to send 25 additional monitors in Macedonia, joining the 26 observers working to prevent a new Balkans war in the republic. OSCE ambassadors from the organisation's 55 member states agreed to send the additional monitors after Russia lifted its objections to the beefed up presence. Russia had slowed the decision, which was expected to have been announced a week before, raising concerns about their mandate in contrast with that of the NATO mission to collect weapons from ethnic Albanian rebels. Macedonia has asked for more monitors, hoping they would help stop the country plunging into civil war between ethnic Albanian guerrillas and the Slav majority of the population. NATO has entered Macedonia to collect weapons from the guerrillas, but its 30-day mission is due to end on September 26. That means Macedonia's stability will depend on other organisations, including the OSCE. But the monitors' mandate, established in 1992, only includes surveying the security situation and the return of refugees, an OSCE official said. The permanent council is still to adopt a new mandate which would make the OSCE, among others, responsible for training a new Macedonian police force, helping to organise a census and new elections, he added. "In the meantime, doubling the number of monitors should help put people's minds at ease," he said. The OSCE comprises 55 states in Europe, central Asia, the United States and Canada. Monitors have been present in Macedonia for some years alongside European Union observers.